Legendary ULM women's coach Linda Harper dies at 71

10:54 PM,
Feb. 16, 2014

Former ULM women's basketball coach Linda Harper (left) visits with current Baylor coach Kim Mulkey during an AAU game. Harper coached then-NLU from 1978-90 during the most successful era for women's basketball, including a trip to the NCAA Final Four.

Written by

Tabby Soignier
Louisiana Gannett

The ULM family lost one of its most successful coaches over the weekend when former Northeast Louisiana women's basketball coach Linda Harper passed away at the age of 71.

Harper took over the women's basketball program in 1978 and compiled a 213-121 record in her 12 years as the head coach of the then-Indians.

She guided the team into the Southland Conference in 1982 and did not lose a league game for the first four years of competition, directing one of the nation's most successful programs during a stretch in the 1980s. Her 1984-85 team reached No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, produced a 30-2 ...